Mattel unveils Jane Goodall Barbie, complete with chimp | Inquirer News

Mattel unveils Jane Goodall Barbie, complete with chimp

/ 08:44 AM July 13, 2022

In this undated handout image courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute, famous British primatologist Jane Goodall holds a Barbie doll in her likeness. - American toy manufacturer Mattel has unveiled new specialty Barbie dolls modeled after the famous English primatologist Jane Goodall and her beloved research specimen, a chimpanzee named David Greybeard. The Goodall doll, which Mattel says will be partly made with recycled plastic, sports the researcher's classic beige collared shirt and shorts, as well as a pair of binoculars and a blue notebook. (Photo by The Jane Goodall Institute / AFP) /

In this undated handout image courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute, famous British primatologist Jane Goodall holds a Barbie doll in her likeness. – American toy manufacturer Mattel has unveiled new specialty Barbie dolls modeled after the famous English primatologist Jane Goodall and her beloved research specimen, a chimpanzee named David Greybeard. The Goodall doll, which Mattel says will be partly made with recycled plastic, sports the researcher’s classic beige collared shirt and shorts, as well as a pair of binoculars and a blue notebook. (Photo by The Jane Goodall Institute / AFP)  

WASHINGTON – American toy manufacturer Mattel has unveiled new specialty Barbie dolls modeled after the famous English primatologist Jane Goodall and her beloved research specimen, a chimpanzee named David Greybeard.

The Goodall doll, which Mattel says will be partly made with recycled plastic, sports the researcher’s classic beige collared shirt and shorts, as well as a pair of binoculars and a blue notebook.

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David Greybeard was the chimpanzee on whom Goodall wrote her initial research papers, which documented for the first time the species’ usage of tools.

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“I’d been suggesting it for a long time that girls don’t want just to be film stars and things like that,” said Goodall in a promotional video.

“Many of them, like me, want to be in the out in nature studying animals.”

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The new Barbie is the latest in a series of dolls Mattel has dedicated to feminist or other inspirational icons.

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Before Goodall, the toy-maker had produced dolls modeled off tennis star Naomi Osaka, the co-creator of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine, Sarah Gilbert, and an anonymous female “robotics engineer.”

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“My heroes, my models were Tarzan, Dr. Dolittle,” said Goodall.

“There weren’t women doing the kind of things I wanted to do… so in all my dreams, I was a man.”

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To all the little girls who like her would like to be changemakers, the primatologist recommends to “go for a walk in nature, learn to love it and then protect it.”

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TAGS: Jane Goodall, Mattel

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